KALAMAZOO, MI -- A highly partisan Congress. A deeply divided electorate. A president bashed by the right for violating the nation's traditions and by the left for moving too slowly on the progressive agenda.

Sound familiar?

Those aren't just the current headlines in The Washington Post and New York Times.They're also the themes sounded in Steven Spielberg's new movie "Lincoln," which focuses on the passage of the 13th Amendment ending slavery
at the end of the Civil War.

As unlikely as it sounds, Spielberg fashions a political thriller out of the passage of a bill. Trust me, it's a must-see movie for multiple reasons, and among those reasons is the insights and perspectives it provides about Washington politics.

To hash over those issues, I called Dr. Tom George, a Kalamazoo anesthesiologist who is both a Lincoln historian and a former state lawmaker.

No surprise, George loved the movie -- praising the acting, its historical accuracy and even to degree to which the actors resembled the people they played. ("The Cabinet members looked just like the pictures that I've seen!" he said.)

But what he liked most, George said, is how the move "focused on the political side, because it shows how important politics is. You had all these battles happening in the Civil War, but there were also these other battles in Congress."

Here's some of my observations about the film, along with George's thoughts.

1. Political switcheroo. One reason Rush Limbaugh might love
"Lincoln": Democrats are the bad guys. What may give Limbaugh pause: The
movie is a remainder of how much the political parties have switched
positions. In "Lincoln," Republicans are the more liberal party, promoting a more progressive agenda by seeking rights for African-Americans while Democrats are the ones espousing state rights.

"It does remind how about the historical roots of the parties, particularly the Republicans," said George, a Republican.

2. Red versus blue America. It's hard not to be struck by the fact that the cultural divide that existed between the North and South 150 years ago exists today, as evidenced by the electoral map in the 2012 election.

George said that the South may have lost the Civil War, but it only heightened Southerners' loyalty to their region and way of life, and the South's mythology around the nobleness of the Confederacy still lingers today.3. The role of race in America. The movie takes the emphatic position that the Civil War was about slavery, and state's rights was really a side issue.

A century and a half later, the nation is still struggling with issues around racial equality; last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case on affirmative action. Still, the progress on race is demonstrated by the fact the nation just re-elected its first African-American president.

"I voted for Romney," George said, "but regardless of who you voted for," the election of Barack Obama shows "this is a country where there is a path for individual accomplishment regardless of race."

Tom GeorgeGazette file

4. Cultural wars and politics. In many ways, the 19th-century political war over slavery is reminiscent of today's culture wars over abortion and gay marriage, with both sides disparaging the other sides' morals, values and priorities.

But in one major respect, the slavery issue was much different: It wasn't just an argument over morality, but also one with huge, undeniable economic implications.

For Southern slaveholders, their livelihood and a considerable amount of their wealth was at stake. As for Northerners, George points out that the abolition movement picked up steam when Midwest farmers feared that slavery might be implemented in Kansas and Nebraska, giving those farmers an unfair advantage.

"They grew corn in Kansas and Nebraska, the same crops as here," George said. "So opposition to slavery grew as it moved north. It wasn't just a moral concern, but an economic one."

5. The messiness of democracy. A theme of "Lincoln" is the wheeling and dealing that goes on in Congress, the hidden and no-so-hidden agendas, and how people might be persuaded to change their votes for not-so-noble reasons.

"Lots of people today are unhappy with Congress -- they think there's too much fighting and they want more bipartisanship," George said. "But the movie reminds us that conflict is how the system works."

It also puts today's political battles in perspective: The controversy over the fiscal cliff or even Obamacare is nothing compared to a brutal war that devastated the country.

6. The political art of timing and compromise. Lincoln was a master politician, George said.

"His sense of timing was impeccable and timing means a lot in politics," George said. "You might not have the votes today, but six months from now it might be different."

The movie notes that Lincoln felt there was a unique window of opportunity in January 1865 to pass the 13th Amendment. It also illustrates how Lincoln knew when to push and when to hold back.

George points out that, while principled, Lincoln was less likely to draw lines in the sand compared to many politicians. At one point in the movie, Lincoln is being chastised by Thaddeous Stevens, a hard-core abolitionist, for not moving fast and hard enough to abolish slavery. Lincoln muses about his days as a surveyor and points out that sometimes, traveling the most direct path, the straightest line, can mean ending up in a swamp.

George said that Lincoln's thinking about slavery evolved over time. Although long opposed to slavery, when Lincoln first ran for president in 1860, his main focus was keeping the Union intact and he was willing to keep slavery in place as long as it was contained to the South.

"But Lincoln changed," George said. "What started as a war to preserve the Union became a war to end slavery."

The reason for that is explored in the movie: Lincoln decided that the question of slavery needed to be resolved once and for all, for the good of the country and to provide proper closure to the Civil War.

Because of the perspective it offers on politics, George said the movie is especially ideal for high school and college students, "to give them more appreciation and a greater respect for the political process."

"I speak at schools sometimes, and I think a lot of young people today have great disregard for politics," George said. "They are very cynical. They don't have an appreciation for what politics can accomplish. This movie shows how important politics can be."